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Short Film Friday: FOUREYES (Dir.: Conor Byrne)

Today’s short film is an utter and pure delight. FOUREYES is a project from production team and brothers Conor and Tyler Byrne (Conor directs/Tyler produces). The film is a coming of age tale about a boy, one Bobby Bowersox, at the cusp of, you know, that stage (“changes” as his mother refers to it). Girls (primarily what’s in front of them) are coming into focus as his vision is slowly fading out. Knocked out by a baseball he can’t see coming, he finds himself in the optometrist’s office, setting himself up for his first pair of glasses. Being able to see carries with it many of its own problems, for when everything comes in to focus, we don’t just see what we want to see. Indeed, the transition into manhood brings many scary questions of what is normal. Unmentionable things start happening. In truth, it can be somewhat of a horror show. FOUREYES captures all of this perfectly.

But what this film excels at is not only narratively driven. This film is beautiful in its quirkiness. FOUREYES is one part Sandlot, one part Wes Anderson, and the rest is a style of Byrne’s own. The colour pallet is spectacular, using bold primary hues, creating a somewhat anarchic viewing experience. It can almost be sensory overload having that much colour on the screen, yet the film handles it well. Much of that is due to the beautiful cinematography from Adam Newport-Berra. This film is excellently shot, with a very stylistic approach to lighting. Finally, there is the acting. It is wonderfully hammy. The exchanges between little Bobby Bowersox (Jake Ryan) and his eye doctor (Alfred Gingold), or the fantastic suppertime banter between Bobby’s parents (the amazing Lori Funk and R.J. Kelly) take this script into ridiculously silly directions.

I can’t recommend this film enough. Please check it out below and do yourself one extra favour: pay attention to the Byrne brothers. I have a feeling we will be seeing much more of them in the future.